Category Archives: Reviews

Spirit of God Bible

from

ZonderKids

The Spirit of God Illustrated Bible brings to life more than 40 Bible stories that help readers understand that God’s Spirit has been with us since the beginning of time and continues to be with us today. From the glory of creation through the powerful letters of Paul, God’s Spirit is living in his people. Old and New Testament stories such as Adam and Eve, Abraham, Joseph, the Baptism of Jesus, and Pentecost come alive with dramatic illustrations by Fernando Juarez and moving text by Doris Rikkers. With a cover that sparkles and shines with foil, this is a special storybook Bible that will appeal to both children and parents alike.

About the Author

Author Bio: Doris Rikkers is a freelance writer and editor who has written many bestselling children’s books and Bibles. Although she loves the ocean, she lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan, surrounded by her books, her flower gardens, and her family and friends.

About the Illustrator

Illustrator Bio: Spanish artist Fernando Juarez illustrates children’s books and works as an art supervisor at the Madrid studio Ilion Animation. The company produces 3D feature films for children. Fernando has three kids himself, and if he has any time left after work and family, you might catch him playing guitar in a rock band.

Review

I know that many parents are looking for books that really catch their children’s eye and are appealing. From the moment we opened the box we were intrigued. The beautiful cover had a sparkle and shine that would be very appealing to children. Each story showing a swirl of light where the Holy Spirit of God had come to those in the story, this let the children know that God was with those who lived during this time. ( I explained that to the kids before reading to them, as seen above. ) As a Christian parent, I want my children to know when God was present with those we are reading about in the Bible. Sometimes it is not so apparent when just reading to small children from a regular bible and they may miss and not understand that God is ever with us and his Spirit is there to help, guide, comfort and praise those living according to the Word.

I so loved this children’s Spirit of God Bible that I gifted my copy to my niece and nephew while they were here with me this summer. They loved it!

(Here is Kendra Holding it ) She has such a sweet spirit and is so loving, she enjoys sitting on your lap to hear the stories!

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Giveaway!!!

Would you like to win your own copy of ” Spirit of God Bible”? Well here is your chance! Leave me a comment or email me at faithfulacresbooks@gmail.com and let me know who you would give this to? Yes, that is all you need to do!

“Disclosure (in accordance with the FTC’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”): Many thanks to Propeller Consulting, LLC for providing this prize for the giveaway. Choice of winners and opinions are 100% my own and NOT influenced by monetary compensation. I did receive a sample of the product in exchange for this review and post. Only one entrant per mailing address, per giveaway. If you have won a prize from our sponsor Propeller/FlyBy Promotions in the last 30 days on the same blog, you are not eligible to win. Or if you have won the same prize on another blog, you are not eligible to win it again. The winner is subject to eligibility verification.

I received this book from #FlyBy Promotions in exchange for my honest review, no further compensation was given for my doing so. The opinions shared here are my own and not necessarily those of the Author or Publisher.

Grab a cup of coffee! I want to share with you today about our review of Home School Navigator. After thoroughly looking over the site and getting a really good feel for the program, I want to share what this could do for you and your children! Home School Navigator is a Reading and Language Arts Curriculum, a full curriculum including plans, teaching videos, and handouts that go along with the program. This curriculum is designed for elementary grades. This is a video, printable, online web-based site to use for the study of English Language Arts. ( Reading, Writing & Grammar ) This program allows you to save your child’s work and it is there to use as a portfolio for your child’s evaluation that you can save and print out for the end of the school year. Each learning level is represented by color and geared toward a certain set of books and lessons for the corresponding Level to be learned from. each level includes:
· A 36 Week Course
· Daily Reading, Writing, and Word Study Lesson Plan
· 60 Instructional Videos
· Word Study Program (including word wall headings, cards, and games)
· Activities That Encourage Multiple Learning Styles
· Monthly Skills Checklist
· Portfolio Maintenance
· Monthly Goal Sheet/Portfolio Check-In
· Downloadable Review Games
· Interactive Notebooks

Many of the books can be found at your local library, online in pdf files or purchased online, but some are available as videos on youtube where your child can listen to it being read to them.

My Review

I want to say that I try really hard to not base my opinion on a website or curriculum totally on our trying it. Sometimes it may fit our style or preference, other times it may not. In this review when we got the kids signed into the levels I chose for them they really were not overly impressed. Daniel being in Level Green (he is in 4th grade) Hope in Level Blue ( she is in 8th grade) and Faith in Level Indigo ( she is in 9th grade ). Since we are predominately doing online schooling this year, I thought they would enjoy this, all I can say is I was wrong on that count. They refused to even go past the first book in each level as they found them to be way below their reading level and about topics they really didn’t enjoy. We have never read them fairy tales or fables, so this didn’t go over well at all. They thought and I will agree that each level did not seem age or grade appropriate for my children. Well, other children may be interested in the content and with reading anything assigned to them, my children really like reading to learn a topic of study and not in just reading for literary enjoyment.

Issue Resolved

We were given the ability to check out several levels during the first few weeks of this review. Due to family health issues, we got signed in later and I had less time to try out the levels. I was not able to try to adjust the levels. When I first tried to do this I found no way to adjust the level that I became locked into and found no phone number or way to contact the website for assistance. I was given information to contact them and when I did this they promptly replied and added the email to the website for future support. They also addressed my issue of needing to change the level and fixed that for me. So I was very happy with the quick reply and issue resolved!

At first, I signed into the Green Level for Daniel and proceeded to try to check out the Yellow Level just for the review, but the lower level for Daniel seemed even more inappropriate for his reading level. But at this time keeping him at the higher level doesn’t seem to be working for him either. I think this is due to his always reading historical fiction and books that deal with learning a topic like coding, computers or a book that deals with one topic. His interests lie in technological things and computer stuff!

Every child is unique and at a different level of learning. Also, children develop a like for certain books versus other books.

Being an adult I can see the benefits of using this program for learning. I feel bad that my kids just didn’t take well to it. I hope you will check it out and see if it would be a good fit for your children. It is very complete in content for the year and full of so many educational things to do. I am going to try again to get the children interested in this program, we were just going through a lot at this present time and I think all the changes in things we were using and life happening has just got them a bit to stressed right now.

Today I want to share with you an online math program that I was asked to review called A+ Interactive Math (by A+ TutorSoft Inc.). For this review, I was blessed with a 1-year subscription to their Family Math Package to use with all 3 of my children. Using this program you can address any learning gaps that may be present with your children and address those areas they need to have more learning in. There is no pretest as you will have access to All the grade levels ( Grades 1-6, Pre-Algebra and Algebra 1 ). So you can easily move your child to the area that you feel they need to be in and even to the lesson that teaches those areas they need to know. Each grade level supplies you with course contents with Math Video Lessons, review that is interactive for the student, Math Worksheets, tests, grading and tracking and well let’s just say a whole lot more!

The Family Math Package also includes PDF’s of the lessons, worksheets, and tests that you can print out and also a handy reference sheet for the students or teacher use. The program is so flexible that if one purchase a 1-year program and the student completes that year in say 8 months, you can move them into the next grade and continue to use the program through that 1 year period. If your student is struggling you can move them back into the area needed or just do some review of those sections, even if it is in a lower grade. Students can also go back into the course to review or catch up if this is needed.

You can use this program on iPad or Android-based tablets that supports Adobe Flash. ( Keep in mind that most browsers on mobile devices do not support Adobe Flash. I recommend the “Puffin Web Browser”. It is free to download off of Play Store and the AppStore.

There is also another program available Adaptive Math Curriculum Online, that allows you to have your students take a placement test first and then enroll the students in the target grade level. So if your uncertain as to where your student is to be placed, this might be an option for you. This will automatically adjust the difficulty level of the questions based on the answers given by the student and if it detects any learning gaps between the grade level and the student’s ability, it automatically creates a plan just for them. This plan also includes video lessons, interactive review, practice worksheets and automatic tracking and retesting. This covers Grades 1-6 and Pre-Algebra. It is completely automatic and you cannot choose the lessons with this plan.

My Review

How many times have you wished you had a way to teach your kids, well maybe have someone else teach them, print off worksheets or just be able to do them online and have the grades already kept for you? If you are raising your hand and saying Me !!! Well, I am right there with you!

At first glance, I wasn’t sure I would like the program. Once I really got into the website and went through the introduction video and started using the sections and got used to it, I found it very easy for me as an adult. I also found it very through in content for each grade. I specifically checked out 3rd, 4th and Algebra 1, as those are the grades my own children are in currently. ( I would suggest with younger children that you help them in navigating the website. Middle schoolers might need some help at first but should be able to get the hang of it. Highschoolers, well they should be able to do it by themselves after being shown how to get from one area to the next.)

I knew that I was really going to need something where the kids could go back into a lower grade on some areas and do some review before proceeding to the next grade of school work in Math. So I looked at the 3rd and 4th grade first for my son Daniel. I could go in and set up his student profile and launch the program. I went in and looked at the 4th grade first and could plainly see that I would have to go back and start him on some of the 3rd-grade topics. Not on all of them but on some of them, to cover areas I knew he was not as strong in. I think this program is great for this need we have in reviewing basics and going on to where he needs to be in 4th grade.

Next, I went in a checked out the Algebra 1, also very thorough in content and since the girls know some of this, I only need to have them start with those units needed and skip the areas that they already have strengths in. But I also could go back into the Pre-Algebra and touch on some of the basics they seemed to forget over time. Mostly areas of how to figure the problems.

I would be able to print of the Reference Sheets for each student and place in a binder for them to look back at if they needed to. This printables section I think is a very handy and cost-saving benefit if you have a printer and want a hard copy of the students to work. It again has worksheets, reviews, and tests, but also you will find answer keys in this section that you can use to check and explain to the student how the problem was worked through.

If you don’t have a printer, you can do it all online or you have the option of ordering the textbook, student workbooks, or the solutions keys. At a very affordable price!

This past January we invested in we invested in desktop computers for the kids and me for schooling, so this online program seems to look like a good fit for us. If life gets in the way and it does, it is all online and will save their grades for me. It is a very nice time-saving feature. We also have Android tablets with Puffin Browser on them and this allows the kids to work independently in their bedrooms for quietness and lets them focus better. An excellent way to assign review or use it as homework for them in areas they need improvement.

I hope you will visit their website, sign up for the free trial and see what you think and if it meets the needs of your students! I really found this to be very complete and educational, not only for myself but it will be for the children as well.

A Boy and His Dog
You have heard folks say ” A Boy and His Dog! ” This book shows the close friendship and relationship of both. My husband is a dog person really can relate to this and we often have talks about our Dogs and our past pets we have had and loved.

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This book was so cute! It shows what a sweet loving and fun relationship he has with his dog and how they do everything together, even bath together and the dog even sleeps on his bed. Daniel enjoyed this book, in our home, we have dogs whose names are Baby and Konike. Baby is our Great Pryensse and Konike is our Black Lab/Retriever mix who is chocolate colored. Daniel knows that having a dog means more than just feeding and watering, it comes with expense and responsibility.

Dying Is Part of This World
Everyone has to deal with this subject and it seems that we all struggle with this topic. This thoughtfully written book shares about the fear of death. There are scripture references and discussion questions to provoke great conversation and prayer. With God’s knowledge and wisdom, you can overcome the fear of death and live a victorious life! Christ has conquered death! Amen

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Dying is Part of This World was sorta a needed thing for us, so getting to read this was very helpful. We lost my Dad a year ago May 25th, on my birthday. This was hard for me, but Daniel came to NY with me and we saw him the day before he passed. Since Daniel has had questions, this made it easier for me to share my belief on this without the worry of my emotions taking over. We could just read this book and talk about death in general. We know that my Dad is in heaven with God and having this book reaffirm this helped us a lot. At the end of each chapter is discussion questions for us to use and talk about. Really great book if your trying to share this with your children and have lost someone close to you.

Don’t Forget Me
Don’t Forget Me depicts a conversation between God and the Baby through pregnancy and birth. It will bring emotions and maybe even a tear to your eyes, as you are reminded that God is the author and giver of life. A perfect gift for expectant parents and siblings!

This book is meant to be used in the Christian Home. The Discussion Book Series encourages great discussions with discussion questions and Scripture references. This book is aimed at family discussion or even a woman’s bible study or teen girls class on marriage and pregnancy!

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Since Daniel is my baby, I read this one myself. This is the most Thoughtful and Encouraging book. Not just for children but for anyone expecting a baby. It would be a great book to read to your children if you are expecting to share the biblical worldview of God being there from conception, birth and beyond. I loved how it showed the love of God for the child, the love of the mother for her child and also the love of the father for the mother and for the Lord. The illustrations are so sweet and portray just how it is from the womb and it gives a very thoughtful and modest way of showing what happens in birth. This book touched my heart even as a mom who has had many a miscarriage and it really should be in the church and the home. I love the verses in the back of the book that we can use to share God’s word with our children on conception, development, and birth. I really love this book!

I hope you will consider these books for your children and your home. Also, consider getting this for your church when it is available in paperback or audio. I would so highly encourage Don’t Forget Me, for a teen group or a pre-marriage class. All of these books are so well illustrated and very well written.

You can connect with Kayla on the web at the following socials and on her website.

Weigl Publishers Media Enhanced Books, AV2 Books andDigital books Review. We received three pdf’s and codes for media enhanced books, Glaciers, A Lion’s World, and There Once Was a Cowpoke Who Swallowed an Ant from Weigl Publishers, that we have been enjoying over the last several weeks! I have to tell you they are very captivating!

Glaciers from the series “Earth’s Water” published under their imprint Lightbox is intended for a grades 3-6. I think the first thing that caught our attention was the colors and all the details about Glaciers!

Daniel and I read through Glaciers and used the media version for a more thorough study of Glaciers. This was so nice as there were so many things to see and do. Links to outside websites like DK Find Out online where you can go and learn about the topic your reading and see all kinds of diagrams and enhance your learning. Also in the enhanced media book are links to learning files you can use to find answers while your learning and you can print them out if you desire to use them. The book itself shows a view where you can easily get back to an area your studying about, this helped us to be able to go back for reference while learning. There are also links to video clips to watch and they are very nice for learning and getting a feel for what it is really like when one of the glaciers decides to melt and come apart. It is just so amazing to watch and learn about them.

Other Titles

We also read A Lions World and There once was a Cowpoke who swallowed an Ant. Although they were a bit below Daniels reading level they were very colorful and entertaining to read. You can also use the feature to allow the books to be read to younger children who are not reading yet or not as fluent in their reading ability.

A Lion’s World belonging to our “EyeDiscover” series, intended for a K-2 interest range. This book was easy to read, full of bright colors that were eye-catching and just all around enjoyable for young children. It also gave a lot of simple but informative information for them to learn from.

There Once Was a Cowpoke Who Swallowed an Ant, a fiction title, intended for a K-2 interest range. It was a fun and humorous story. The illustrations were very colorful and great for young children to enjoy.

We really enjoyed these and you can learn more from this video on using these books for your students! I believe it will really be a fun and enjoyable experience for them.

We hope that you will consider these books for your own child’s reading enjoyment!

If you would like to learn more about what others thought of these books feel free to click on the picture below to be taken to more reviews by the Homeschool Review Crew.

Like this:

Over the last several weeks we have been using the book Heroes of History- Christopher Columbus from YWAM Publishing for studying history. This is part of the bestselling biographies from the Heroes of History Series by Janet & Geoff Benge. This series came highly recommended by other families we know and is highly recommended for christian schools and those homeschooling. These books could also be used for family study on christian heritage. They can be read by teens, parents and grandparents , but can be read also to younger children.

~ They make excellent chapter books for those age 10 and up ! ~

So what does a small town boy being raised in Genoa, by parents who were farmers of sheep being raised to be a weaver have to do with discovering the new world ? I am supposing that like every young boy Christopher , had a dream. This was one of the many things we learned while reading this book. We learned so much about Christopher Columbus, things we never learned before. From his boyhood adventures and growing up into manhood and getting married. This was the exciting part missed in much of public school learning, this is why I am so glad we homeschool and can chose the books we want to use for our children to learn from. But wither you homeschool or your kids are in public school, this series can be used to enhance your child’s learning experience !

Each book comes with a downloadable Unit Study for you to use to enhance the learning experience. In the Unit Study you will find fun activities that are educational. The introduction will help you as the Parent/Teacher to know what you may chose to use. Understanding your child’s learning styles. Using this guide for group or individual study. Understanding grade levels or individual ability of your student/students. It is very through in helping you plan and decide based on the needs of your student and yourself. Key Quotes you can use for memorization, meaning and display purposes. Ideas for setting up a display area , to show what the students are learning, with things to include based on your study. You will also find Chapter Questions for each chapter with page noted for where to find the answers, this is excellent to use with the students to recall facts and quiz them on what they remember. There is a section on Student Explorations where you will find ideas for Essay Questions, Creative Writing , Hands on Projects, Audio/Visual Products and Arts & Crafts ! Also there is a section on Community links to help you find local, state or federal resources and places for field trips to enjoy.

The Unit Study has words to use for vocabulary studies, as well as geographical terms and names for map studies in geography. Time Lines and Conceptual Questions. Related Themes to in Science, Current Issues, Geography, History and Math. A Section on Culminating Events, How to plan out something for the students to experience and show what they are learning or have learned.

You may also like the Homeschool Overview for Unit Study Curriculum Guides for comparing time periods and planning your History Studies. In the Start Here link you will find more fun and informative things in the information about the character you are reading about in your book, guides for small groups, classroom and homeschool. Links to the study guide, in our case part 1 & 2. A bonus section of puzzles , games and more fun ! A meet the authors section so you can get to know them and why they wrote these books. Reader Reviews on the book.

For us there was so much to use and do. We decided to use the book it self for reading daily and doing some of the history study by following up with some books from our library. This is really a full study and can become very in depth for all involved. Even for those young through the adults teaching or studying along.

I think next we will be using John Smith: A Foothold in the New World, as it is next in the series and I want to continue our study of history and family heritage for my kids ! They are so exciting , not only for the kids but for me also !

I hope you will consider using these wonderful books in your own studies and if you would like to read more of what the Homeschool Review Crew thought of this and many other books in the series, click on the graphic below !

Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology Text: If you are looking for a Text that gives glory to God and teaches your children how each part of their body works inside them, this is an awesome book to study from. It is loaded with Lesson Plan ideas, Reading on Anatomy and Physiology, Projects & Experiments, Supply Lists and lots of colorful illustrations. Covering Topics from The History of Anatomy and Physiology, Basic Cells , RNA, DNA, The Skeletal System, The Muscular System, The Digestive & Renal Systems, Health & Nutrition, The Respiratory System, Life in the Blood, The Cardiovascular System, The Nervous & Endocrine System, More on the Nervous System, Your Senses, The Integument System, The Lymphatic & Immune System and Growth & Development. All of this is very in depth but presented in a way for young children to understand.

Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology Junior Notebooking Journal: This notebooking journal is full of loads of activities for your younger children and could be used for children from grades K thru 4th grade. It has coloring pages, copywork in manuscript and cursive, some simple crosswords and lots of hands on things to do, to reinforce what is learned from the text, like Mini Books to put together on many of the topics being taught.

Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology Notebooking Journal: This Notebooking Journal we felt was going to be a good use for Daniel (10 years old ) when he is a little older. This could easily be used for Grades 5 thru 6 th or even older children or an adult if your learning as a family ! It has Similar activities but seems to have more advanced things like Vocabulary Crossword Puzzles, Scripture Copywork in Cursive and Many fun projects that also go with the lessons learned in the Text.

Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology MP3 Audio CD: This easy to use CD is great, as you can play it while you follow along with the reading of the author’s word from the Text. I found it to be a great resource. I usually follow along myself and I will tell you there are some things in here that I never learned when in school. It is easy to follow along with and if I need to Daniel could follow along and play the sections himself at age 10 ! It was nice to as it tells you when to do a project or when to do the Try This in the Text. So it is great for listening to at home or in the vehicle.

You can use the Lesson Plans given in the text for you can take things at your own pace !

I wanted to share with you a few pages from the text. It is beautifully illustrated and loaded with knowledge, which makes it wonderful for the children to see and understand what we are learning about !

Our Science Time looks something like this, Listen and Read the sections for the day, Talk about what we are learning and do a couple projects from the text and the notebooking journal. Daniel and I spend this time together working through the Text and I am really enjoying all the things were learning. It has been educational for me as well. Suffice it to say my Science learning consisted of basic chemistry in 8th grade and then some simple Biology in 9th grade.

As we studied about the History of Anatomy and Physiology of the Human Body Daniel colored pictures from different time periods, made a diagram of a cell, made the vocabulary flip chart and also the cell wheel

Daniels Project ” My Body ” The beautiful overlays allow him to see just where the systems are in his body and how the body comes together as a whole. Doing this made it more personal for Daniel to learn of all the systems in the body. So far we have learned about the Skeletal System, the Muscular System, the Digestive and Renal Systems.

I really think this would be great for Christian Schools, Home schools or anyone wanting to give their children a wonderful knowledge of Science from a biblical view. It is engaging and could be used by many grade levels. If you are teaching multiple grades and need something for Science or Health, this could be just the Series for you. It is easy to understand, simple to explain to the children, yet it teaches some very in depth concepts.

A Little About Me…

Bible Believer, Christ Follower, Mamma to Seven wonderfully talented children... Grandmamma to 11 awesome grandchildren... Each child is a true blessing in my life. I cannot wait to have more! I am an Author, Artist, Poet, Lover of Country Living, Country Victorian Things and when not found reading historical fiction, I am reading about herbs.

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